Nine out of 10 customers said they were satisfied or even very satisfied with the hypermarket of the future. Ninety-four percent of the customers said they would recommend this hypermarket, where the retail company is testing innovative concepts and technologies. This positive feedback is also reflected in the sales figures. Since the re-opening of the store on May 28, 2008, sales in Tnisvorst have risen continuously by now reaching a double-digit growth in sales as compared to the previous year.

The customers gave a particularly good rating to the Fresh Food & Convenience department, where fruit and vegetables as well as fresh convenience foods are presented together for the first time. A survey by the market research institute ACNielsen commissioned by METRO Group showed that customers were very pleased with this new type of assortment mix. This is why they voted the comprehensive product assortment in this area to the top of their ranking. Sales in this department increased by around 56 percent year on year. The customers participating in the survey also gave a very positive rating to the transparent production of the "Master Butcher" concept. In the non-food categories, the newly designed sports department with its extended testing range for sports equipment received the best grades.

"The results of the survey confirm that the new concepts are very well received by our customers and that customers are increasingly aware of our focus on fresh products and convenience," said Roland Neuwald, Managing Director Sales of real,- SB-Warenhaus GmbH. "This is why, next year, we will also roll out selected concepts such as Fresh Food & Convenience or beauty & more in the drugstore area to other stores. Hence, the real,- Future Store lives up to its role as a pioneer for the whole company." Mobile shopping passes its first test

The innovative technologies used at the real,- Future Store were also well received. Around two-thirds of those customers who checked out one of the test devices said they would again use the Mobile Shopping Assistant (MSA) an application for mobile phones that supports customers while shopping and recommend it to their families and friends. The result was even better in the group of the 100 test users who have been testing the MSA since June 2008: Three-quarters of them rated this application "very good" or "good." "The experience gained by the test users help us to further optimize the MSA," explained Dr. Gerd Wolfram, Managing Director of MGI METRO Group Information Technology. "In a next step, we plan to make mobile shopping even more user-friendly and offer additional functionalities." The next feature to be tested will be Pay by Wireless with mobile phones. For this purpose, METRO Group and real,- use so-called Near Field Communication (NFC), a technology for the short-range transmission of data between devices. A first long-term test with selected consumers is being planned. Dr. Gerd Wolfram: "With Pay by Wireless, we offer our customers added convenience in mobile shopping."

METRO Group is one of the largest and most international retailing companies. In 2007, the Group reached sales of around 64 billion. The company has a headcount of some 280,000 employees and operates over 2,200 stores in 31 countries. The METRO Groups performance is based on the strength of its sales divisions which operate independently in their respective market segment: Metro/Makro Cash & Carry the international leader in self-service wholesale, Real hypermarkets, Media Markt and Saturn European market leader in consumer electronics retailing, and Galeria Kaufhof department stores.

real,- SB-Warenhaus GmbH is a METRO Group company. The real,- brand name is associated with a comprehensive assortment of brand-name products and strong expertise in offering fresh products that are a good value for money. Under the umbrella of real,- SB-Warenhaus GmbH, the company operates around 350 hypermarkets throughout Germany and another 85 stores in Poland, Romania, Russia and Turkey. In fiscal year 2007, the company generated net sales of 11 billion.

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